This was a well written and thought provoking book. I enjoy reading cyberpunk novels and this one had a lot of good elements to it.
Aiden Hedley is a newly appointed Commander to the Jokers Wild squadron. This squad is full of (supposedly) misfit personnel who are constantly in trouble. After their beloved Commander dies from cancer, all other Commanders can’t seem to fit into the group or bring about the discipline they need.
The group has a lot of people with their own personal problems, but they are good at what they do. At first, Aiden doesn’t think he will be able to fit in and lead this varied group, but he soon finds himself enjoying the work.
I have to say that the book was a slow starter for me and was much different than I thought it would be. While it is a cyberpunk novel about a dystopian future, it was actually more of a romance than I expected. Since I am not a big fan of romance, especially those with a lot of fairly explicit sexual encounters, I was a little disappointed. If I had been reading a physical book, I would have probably skipped a lot of it. That’s hard to do with an audiobook, though.
The author handled the more delicate aspects of Aiden in a thoughtful way and I did find this insightful. I also enjoyed witnessing the characters’ growth as they began to reveal secrets and trust one another. Tweak was a great character and her coding antics added a bit of humor throughout the book. The book had enough humor and snark to keep it from becoming a downer. I also enjoyed the references to “old” movies and songs and will definitely check out the online playlist since I am a fan of that era of music.
The narrator did a great job with the different voices for the characters and his performance added a lot to the book. I was given the chance to listen to the audiobook version through Story Origins and I chose to review it.